I'm going to take a slightly different tack here... Have you seen Gattaca (1997)? The film featured one mans struggle to break the bonds of his genetic limitations which caused him to be deemed unfit to go into space by the big, bad MegaCorporation, despite his skill and intelligence. He used the DNA bearing material of a cripple, who was otherwise genetically compatible with the companies requirements to gain access to the program. He was forced to leave nail clippings, dead skin flakes, and hair in his work area due to the constant, paranoid nature of the company's need to revalidate its candidates on a daily basis. His blood and urine were also tested daily, on both ingress and egress to the building.
Sure, this may be only a movie, but consider this: The Running Man (1987) was about a fictional televised game show in the future. The show promoted direct physical violence and even death of human beings for sport and financial gain. Today's television includes programs like Survivor, The Amazing Race, Fear Factor, The Chair, and The Chamber. All of these shows are escalating what level of violence is acceptable to society. The internet has also, as a vehicle for large corporations, been able to mutate our favorite communications platform to their needs, claiming all the while that their actions and direction are in the interest of the consumer. Under that guise, big business has whittled at and begun to rub away the protections we have as private, American citizens. Making it easier to access medical records of individuals, preferably without their knowledge, will make it easier for corporations to determine any number of things and base their decisions on. The applications of this knowledge of countless and industry would love to have immediate, unregulated access to it, and all in the name of the allmighty dollar. I'm typically rather cynical, though not much for conspiracy theories. Mine follows: There is no such thing as free enterprise. There is no such thing as personal freedom. Government is a sham, whether intentional or not. Corporate America is a gigantic pyramid scheme that is feeding the top 10% of the nation, which also happens to be the richest. There are no conspiracies. There are no grand, evil plots. There's simply greed, and everyone is out to get their piece of the share. As they say, it's a dog eat dog world. _______________________________________________ Linux-users mailing list - http://linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Archives,and Digests are located at the above URL.
